420 COXTRIBUTIOXS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY IV. 
pectoral fins moderate, falcate. Skin naked, more or less rough, es- 
liecialh^ in the yonng, which have rudimentary scales. Sword flattened. 
Caudal keel single. Intestines long, sinuous. Air-bladder simple. Pel- 
vic arch obsolete. Pishes of great size, reaching a weight of 300 to 400 
pounds, the flesh valued for food, the ancient name of Xipliias 
(/ladlus, from a sword.) 
662. X. gladiias L. — Common Sword-fish. 
Very dark bluish above, dusky below; “sword” almost black above, 
below lighter. Cleft of mouth extending beyond eye. Head about 2^ ; 
depth about 5J. Snout 3 in length. D. 40-4; A. 18-14. Vert. 14 + 12. 
Atlantic Ocean, on both coasts ; also in the Pacific, north to the Santa 
Barbara islands. 
(Linn. Syst. Nat.; Giintlier, ii, 511 ; Storer, Fish. Mass. 1867 , 71 . 
210. — TETRAPTURUS Rafinesque. 
Sjyear Fishes. 
(Rafinesque, Indice d’Ittiol. Sicil. 1810 , 30 : type Tetraptnriis helone Raf. of the Medit- 
erranean. ) 
Sword-fishes with small teeth in the jaws and on the palatines, with 
tlie ventral tins represented each by a single spine, and with the dorsal 
fin not greatly elevated, divided in the adult, its height not greater 
than the depth of the body. Body much compressed. Skin with rudi- 
mentary embedded scales; sword rounded; caudal keel double. Air- 
bladder sacculated. Yertebrm 12 + 12. Intestine short, straight. 
{rtrpa^ four; Ttrepov, wing; <7oo«, tail, from the wing-like caudal keels.) 
663. T. Poey. — Bill-fish; Spear-fish; Agnja Blanca. 
Dark blue above ; whitish beneath; fins dark blue. Nape elevated, 
the greatest depth of the body opposite the opercle. Eye midway be- 
tween opercle and tip of lower jaw. Dorsal inserted in front of base of 
l>ectorals. Caudal forked at an angle of 70 to 80 degrees. Head (to 
end of upper jaw) 2|; depth 7-8. Length of caudal lobes 4J. D. Ill, 
39-6 ; A. II, 13-G. Length 7 to 8 feet. [Foey.) Cape Cod to West 
Indies ; not rare on our coast. 
(Poey, Meiu. ii, 237 : ? Tetraptiirus helone Raf. Histiophorus helone Giiuther, ii, 513 .) 
664. T. aiM{>lsis Poey. — Agnja de Casta. 
Color dark blue; paler below, with bluish cross streaks. Body stouter, 
more convex at the nape, the greatest depth being behind the oper- 
cle. Caudal forked at anangle of 90 to 100 degrees. Dorsal inserted 
